Justin Georges Stephen Coulombe, of Edmonton, pictured here in an undated photograph, was arrested by police on July 27. (Facebook)

“Just like anything else, there are a lot of people on the internet that make outrageous claims about people that they simply don’t like.”

Posts by vigilante justice groups attempting to out an Edmonton man as a pedophile were not enough to trigger an investigation, says the detective who oversaw the man’s arrest.

Justin Georges Stephen Coulombe, 33, faces sexual assault, child luring and child pornography charges in the alleged exploitation of two teenage boys under the age of 16.

Coulombe, who often posed as a Catholic clergyman, was arrested on July 27, after an investigation by the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT).

Coulombe poses as a Catholic clergyman, but is not associated with any diocese in Canada, ALERT said. (Facebook)

Months before his arrest, Creep Catcher-style organizations across Canada were publicly monitoring Coulombe, and had vilified him as an online predator and a high-profile member of pro-pedophilia internet forums.

Although the posts were circulating online for months, an official complaint was never lodged to police, said Det. Brian Cross with ALERT’s internet child exploitation unit.

But Cross said police investigations rarely rely on these kind of citizen-led investigations.

“We found that information out at the early stages of the investigation. It’s not a deep, dark web secret about our suspect,” Cross said in an interview Wednesday with CBC Radio’s Edmonton AM.

Members of vigilante groups have no accountability and many of their claims rely on statements or anecdotes which can not be tied to a “place or time,” said Cross.

In the absence of concrete evidence, online predators can easily remain off the radar of law enforcement agencies.

“It’s good for intelligence, but without a viable complaint or witness or corroborating evidence, it’s not normally something we would normally be able to action,” Cross said.

“Unless there is something to corroborate that, or a witness associated to it, there’s not necessarily an investigation going to be initiated by it.”

ALERT’s investigation began in June after the mother of one boys came forward.

Coulombe and the boy had been exchanging graphic sexual messages online for several months, before the relationship became physical, Cross said.

The second boy was being sexually exploited online, but there was no physical contact.

‘It’s always a fear’

Coulombe had an active online presence including many photographs which show him masquerading as a priest in full collar and other clerical clothing.

There is no evidence that Coulombe used his false identity as a priest to groom or “access” his victims, Cross said.

However, investigators believe there could be more victims, and that the accused may have relied on his false identity as clergyman to exploit other children.

Cross describes the case as unusual and unsettling.

“We come across cases where people purport themselves to be in a position of trust or authority but I have not personally been involved in an investigation where we’ve come across somebody pretending to be a member of the clergy,” Cross said.

“Because of the prevalence of that online and how much he purported to be [a priest] in his life, it’s always a fear.

“We simply don’t know if there are other victims waiting to come forward.”

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Bob Drew
…it’s not terribly difficult. I use a “Feed Reader” called Feedly. It’s free to use, although there is a paid option. Feedly offers apps for phones and tablets as well, which will all sycnchronize
These instructions apply to the desktop (PC / Mac) version:
* Set up an account at feedly.com. When your account is ready, you’ll see an “add content” button in the top left corner. Click it.
* Type in or paste the URL of this site (www.theinquiry.ca/wordpress).
* Two results will come up. One is for the posts to the site (which Sylvia makes); another is for comments on posts (made by anyone). You can add those to your Feedly feed.
Once you have done this, new posts and comments will be fed to your Feedly page each time there’s something new. You can read them there and mark them as read afterwards, or click through to the actual post.
You can do this with almost all websites. It’s a great way of getting through lots of information in a short time.